FERRERS. inherited but " a moderate share of tho paternal inheritance ; "( a ) Lord Lieut, co. Stafford, 1725-29. He m. about 1704, Mary, da. o£ Sir Richard Levinge, 1st Bart. [[.], sometime (1720-24) Lord Ch. Justice of the Common Pleas [I.], by his first wife, Mary, da. and coheir of Sir Gawcu COBBTN. He d. s.p.m. in Clarges Btreet, Midx., 14 April and was bur. 3 May 1729, at StauntoD.( b ) Will pr. 1729. M His widow A in France, Jan. 1740. Will pr. 1741. III. 1729. 3. Henry (Shirley), Earl Ferrers, &c, next surv. br. and h. male, being 9th s. of the 1st Earl by his first wife. He was b. 14 Nov. 1691 ; was Lord Lieut, of Staffordshire, 1731-42. He was, however, found to be of unsound mind. Ho d. num. at Kensington Gore, Midx., 6 Aug. 1745 and was bur. at Staunton Harold. Admon. 21 Aug. 1745. IV. 1747. 4- Lawrence (Shirley), Earl Ferrers, &c, nephew and h. male, being s. and h. of the Hon. Lawrence Shirley, by Anne, da. of Sir Walter Clarges, Bart, which Laurence last named was 10th s. of the 1st Earl (being his yst. s. by his first wife, Elizabeth, da. and h. of Laurence Washington, of Garesden, Wilts), and d. 27 April 1743, aged 49; He was 6. 18 Aug. 1720, and matric. at Oxford (Ch. Ch.), 28 April 1737. He took his seat in the House of Lords, 1754. He m. 16 Sep. 1752, Mary, sister of Sir William Meredyth, 3d Bart. [S.], da. of Amos Meredyth, by Joanna, da. of Thomas Cholmondeley. She, however, obtained, 20 June 1758, an act of Pari, for her separation( d ) from him "for the cruelty of the said Earl." He, being "of an ungovernable temper, at times almost amounting to insanity," murdered, by a pistol shot, his land steward (an old man named Johnson) at Staunton Harold in Jan. 1760 ; was tried by his Peers 16 and 17 April following, found guilty on the ISth and was accordingly hung on Tyburn gallows 5 May 1760. Ho d. s.p. in his 40th year. He was bur. at St. Pancras, Midx., but removed thence, 3 June 1782, to Staunton Harold. His widow m. 28 March 1769, at St. Martin's in the fields, Lord Frederick Casipbell, who d. 8 June 1816, aged 87. She d. 26 July 1S07, being accidentally burnt to death while reading in bed at Coombebauk in Kent. V. 1760. 5. Washington (Shirley), Earl Ferrers, &c, br. and h., b. 26 May 1722 ; took his seat in the House of Lords, 19 May 1760. Having entered the Navy about 1738, he became Post Capt., 1746, Bear Admiral of the White, 1775, and finally Vice Admiral of the White, 1778 ; F.R.S., 1761, &c. The King by pat. 6 Dec. 1763, confirmed by act of Pari. 1771, regranted to him such estates as had been forfeited by the late Earl. (°) He m. Anne, da. of ffl The 1st Earl divided the Irish estates between his 4 sons of the second marriage, to the eldest of whom he left (after his mother'E death) the estate of Ettington, co. Warwick, while to Laurence Shirley, his yst. s. by his first marriage, he left Garesdon and the Wiltshire property, derived from the family of Washington. ( b ) It is said of him by Macky, in his Tour thro England, in 1723, that " He keeps as hospitable an house and entertains as nobly as any Peer of the realm. His Lordship has experienced both fortunes, and was no more depressed with adversity than he is elevated with prosperity." (°) His three daughters and coheirs were (1) Lady Elizabeth Nightingale, who d. 17 Aug. 1734, aged 27 and was (bur. with her husband) in Westm. Abbey, where her •monument, by Roubiliac, is well-known ; (2) Seliua (the celebrated) Countess of Huntingdon, who d. 17 June 1791, aged 84, imd (3) Mary, Viscountess Kilmorey [I.], who d, 12 Aug. 1784. ( d ) This was not a divorce. In her re-marriage she is styled " Countess Dow. Ferrers," which style however (owing probably to the unenviable notoriety of her 1st husband) she did not retain after her second marriage («) " The ancient family estates at Astwell, in Northamptonshire, Brailesford, in Derbyshire, and the parks and other property at Shirley in the same county " were sold by hiin (private acts 1766, 1768, and 1775, for sale of the Derbyshire property) partly on account of the " very questionable improvements " he effected at Staunton Harold where he destroyed " the fine old formal gardens " with " the fountains and canals" and "almost entirely re-built in the Palladian style" the old family residence. See "Stem. Shirleiana."
